“There have been changes in both teams and we have to an­a­lyse the Ital­ians but we know that it will be a dif­fi­cult match. It is al­ways dif­fi­cult against the Ital­ians.”

To­day, Ja­pan will meet Venezuela, the other per­fect per­former in the group stage with three wins against Ger­many, Mex­ico and Van­u­atu and no goals con­ceded.

It is the per­fect stage for Ritsu Doan, with three goals so far, to en­hance a grow­ing rep­u­ta­tion. Just 18, the 2016 Young Asian Player of the Year has been linked this week with Euro­pean giants Ajax of Am­s­ter­dam and AS Monaco.

Not to be out­done, Lee Se­ung Woo, the Barcelona U19 player dubbed the “Korean Messi” scored a fab­u­lous goal in the hosts’ 2-1 win over six-time win­ners Ar­gentina, who be­came the big­gest team to fall in the group stage.

Se­ung Woo and his Barcelona col­league Paik Se­ung Ho have im­pressed so much that there have been calls for them to be drafted in to South Korea’s se­nior team to help qual­ify for the 2018 World Cup.

To­mor­row, Group A table­topp­pers Eng­land play Costa Rica, Uruguay meet Saudi Ara­bia and Ger­many, who squeezed through as one of four best third­placed fin­ish­ers, take on Group C win­ners Zam­bia.

The United States, who fin­ished top of Group F, play New Zealand on Thurs­day, while Mex­ico and Sene­gal meet in In­cheon.